Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, revealed Thursdaythatshe has been suspended from Barnard College over her involvement indisruptive anti-Israel protests on Columbia University’s Morningside campus at which scores of demonstrators were arrested.
“I just received notice that I am 1 of 3 students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide,” the 21-year-old wrote on X.
“I’m an organizer with CU Apartheid Divest @ColumbiaSJP, in my 3 years at @BarnardCollege I have never been reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings,” she added.
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Hirsi was one of more than 100 protesters who were hauled away in cuffs by the NYPD Thursday afternoon after they erected a tent city on the campus of the $90,000-per-year Ivy League school.
By late afternoon Thursday the protests had dispersed, and cleaning crews were brought in to disassemble and removedozens of tents thatlittered the campus.
Antisemitism controversy at Columbia University: Key events
- Columbia University president Minouche Shafikwas accused of “gross negligence” while testifying before Congress.Shafik refused to say if the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is antisemitic.
- More than 100 Columbia professors signed a letter defending students who support the “military action” by Hamas.
- Antisemitic posters depicting Israel as a skunk appeared on campus — which experts liken to a propaganda poster used by the Nazis in World War II.
- Radical anti-Israel activists Charlotte Kates and Khaled Barakat told Columbia students a two-hour tirade, “There is nothing wrong with being a fighter in Hamas” in a seminar called “Resistance 101″ — weeks before the campus exploded in pro-Palestinian protests.
- Columbia students erected 60 tents on campus to demand that the university divest from Israel.
- More than 100 other protesters were arrested after Shafik announced the campus’s closure.
- Israel-born professor Shai Davidai was barred from campus after he attempted to lead a pro-Jewish rally.
- Every New York House GOP lawmaker demanded that Shafik resign immediately.
- Columbia University’s Jewish Alumni Association also called for Shafik’s resignation.
As the daughter of a controversial and outspoken congresswoman, whose own eyebrow-raising statements have led to accusations of being anti-American and anti-Semitic, Hirsi has spent much of her life attending demonstrations.
She attended her first protest at age six,according to Vice.
In 2015, at 12, Hirsi joined her family at a Black Lives Matter protest thatforced Mall of America to shut downand required over 200 police officers, including 50 riot cops to restore order.
On Thursday, Hirsi and the two other students– identified as Maryam Iqbal and Soph Dinu —received notice of their suspension from Barnard Dean, Leslie Grinage, the anti-Israel student group Apartheid Divest said in a statement.
“This decision is based on information received from Columbia University Public Safety that you have been involved in an unauthorized encampment on the Columbia University campus and you have not ceased participation in this unauthorized encampment despite repeated requests from Barnard and Columbia on April 17, 2024 that you do so,” the dean’s email read, according to the student group.
The Barnard junior — who is one of three children Rep. Omar shares with her ex-husbandAhmed Hirsi– had shared footage of herself participating in the controversial protest a day earlier, calling it a “huge historic moment.”
Follow The Post’s coverage of the anti-Israel protests at Columbia University:
- Pro-terror radical launched 2-hour anti-Israel tirade at Columbia University event weeks before protests exploded: ‘Nothing wrong with being a Hamas fighter’
- Anti-Israel protesters urge others to break into ‘platoons’ as Columbia University extends deadline for them to leave
- House Speaker Mike Johnson demands ‘very weak, inept’ Columbia prez Minouche Shafik resign ahead of campus visit
- Rep. Elise Stefanik demands federal funds for Columbia University be revoked in wake of anti-Israel protests
In a follow up tweet revealing her suspension, a defiant Hirsi said protestors“will not be intimidated.”
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“We will stand resolute until our demands are met. Our demands include divestment from companies complicit in genocide, transparency of@Columbia’sinvestments and FULL amnesty for all students facing repression,”she wrote.
Hirsi, who describes herself on X as an “angry black girl,” has fired off a barrage of tweets as the school’s anti-Israel protests rage on, including one posted by her mom, saying she was “in solidarity” with rallying students.
Omar, a progressive Democrat, was booted by Republicans from the powerful Foreign Affairs Committeein February last year over her anti-Semitic comments.
Over less than five years in office, Omar has racked up an impressive catalog of antagonistic and often bizarre statements, including accusing the US and Israel of committing war crimes.
Additional reporting by Chris Nesi.
